The University of Montana Western women’s basketball team traveled to Butte, Mont. this past weekend to play a non-conference game against the Montana Tech Orediggers. The Bulldogs lost 61-72.

Montana Western kept it close for most of the game. The Bulldogs went in at halftime only down one point, 39-40. The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Orediggers 39-36, which included six more offensive rebounds than Montana Tech. The Bulldogs also won the turnover battle, but a four-minute stretch from the 14- to 10-minute marks did the Bulldogs in.

The Bulldogs were lead by junior Roxy Thurman, who had 17 points and seven rebounds. Sammi Bignell added 14 points while Kaci Matthies and Brittney Leibenguth both chipped in 12 points apiece.

Montana Tech’s Kelsey DeWit has proven to be hard to guard as the junior had 23 points against the Bulldogs.

“We made a couple adjustments trying to do a better job guarding DeWit,” UMW Head Coach Lindsay Woolley said. “That, coupled with her foul trouble, helped us out, but we just didn’t do a good job executing offensively for that four-minute stretch and found ourselves down 12 with 10 minutes to go. It’s awfully hard to overcome that large of a deficit when you’re on the road against a quality opponent.”

The loss moves the Bulldogs to a 3-1 record while it bumps the Orediggers to a 2-0 record. The Bulldogs travel to Salt Lake City, Utah on Nov. 7 for a three-day tournament where they will play three teams who are in the top 25 of their respective conferences.